Queen Cell sticking straight out?

[Ross]

Has anyone ever seen a queen cell sticking straight out from the comb? A bit like a super sized drone cell?

I've got a failing queen who is laying a bit too much drone and the bees have obviously decided to replace her, there is a nice fat queen cell on one side of a comb, on the other side is what appears to be a queen cell sticking straight out from the face of the comb. The queen is also still there laying as there were eggs in some of the cells.

I've not seen this before and wondered if anyone else had.

Ross

 

[oliver90owner]

If it looks like a super-sized drone cell, it might well be just that. Perhaps your queen is now laying all drone brood?

Not seen it, but I know which cell I would bet on if I had to.

 

[Skyhook]

I'd be a bit concerned at superceding- I haven't seen any drones recently. Don't do anything hasty, leave them to make their own decisions.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Mine were superseding a DLQ (new Q who somehow failed to mate) and raised cells on drone brood, including one that was obscenely long. My conclusion is they do odd stuff when they only have drone eggs to play with and in my case never got the right pheromones to stop extending and start sealing. Yours may be similar, so check the adjacent brood.